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The article focuses on the plan of U.S. President Donald Trump to keep U.S. troops in Iraq to monitor and maintain pressure on Iran despite plans to withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan. Negotiations are being held between the U.S. and Iraq on the relocation of U.S. commandos and support troops from Syria to Iraq to strike the Islamic State from there. Criticisms from Iraqi officials and senior U.S. officers and diplomats to the plan are also cited.

This article discusses the Awakening movement in Iraq. The U.S. forces have recruited Sunnis to fight Sunni Islamic extremists like Al Qaeda. The movement has been very successful and is credited with greatly reducing violence in the areas in which the Sunni insurgency has been based. The rapid expansion of the Awakening force is creating new concerns for the U.S. It is difficult to weed out spies and to rely on loyalty to the cause.

The article focuses on the efforts of the U.S. President Donald Trump to nullify the climate change efforts of former president Barack Obama, by signing an executive order to revive coal industry in the U.S. Topics discussed are Trump's order to the organization Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to formulate new regulations to curb pollution from coal industry, criticism by Erik Solheim of the United Nations Environment Program, and comment by attorney general Eric T. Schneiderman.

The article discusses the acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan's visit to U.S. to Iraq, within the context of troop levels in Iraq, potential U.S. withdrawal from Syria, the role of U.S. troops in Iraq in monitoring Iran and anti-Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) operations.

The article reports on the bilateral security agreement between Afghanistan and the U.S. which was supported by tribal elders. It notes that the leaders at a loya jirga or assembly asked Afghan President Hamid Karzai to sign the agreement by the end of December 2013. However, President Karzai says that he would only sign the agreement after further negotiations and he demanded to stop that raids of American forces on Afghan homes.

The article reports that the political power of Iraq's Kurdish community is fading as its relationship with Iraqi Arabs has deteriorated. The Kurds had been allies of the Shiite government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, but their efforts to gain control of the city of Kirkuk, a center of the petroleum industry, has created opposition from both the government and its Sunni opponents. The division is another setback for U.S. efforts to create a stable government in Iraq.

The article focuses on the decline in violence in Iraq in the second half of 2007. Iraqi and U.S. officials in that country state that the decline stems from three factors, the number of Sunni insurgents who have begun cooperating with U.S. troops rather than fighting them, the halt of military action by the Shiite militia led by Moktada al-Sadr, and the increase of the U.S. forces. All of these developments are subject to sudden change. U.S. troop levels will decline in 2008.

The article reports that the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush has abandoned many of its past benchmarks for Iraqi political progress seen as a cornerstone of its troop "surge" policy of 2007. The U.S. no longer expects Iraq to create laws sharing oil revenues or to hold regional elections. Lesser goals, such as Iraq's Parliament passing a budget, will be cited as proof of the surge's success.

The article reports that the government of Iraq has awarded $1.1 billion in contracts for construction of large electric power plants to companies from Iran and China. The contracts have distressed U.S. military commanders in Iraq, who are concerned Iranian commercial interests in that country could disguise military activity in support of insurgent forces.

The article examines the legal issues which have prevented prosecution of private military contractors in Iraq for such crimes as shooting civilians by either U.S. or Iraqi authorities. The U.S. State Department refuses to waive immunity granted contractors by the Coalition Provisional Authority for political reasons and distrust of the Iraqi legal system. There are constitutional issues which may prevent contractors from being tried under both U.S. military and civil law.

The article reports that interviews with witnesses and Iraqi and U.S. investigators of the September 16, 2007 incident where employees of the private security firm Blackwater USA shot and killed at least 11 Iraqi civilians contradict the company's explanation of the events. A Blackwater employee is said to have shot and killed an Iraqi automobile driver who failed to halt when ordered. When the dead man's car continued moving, Blackwater personnel began firing indiscriminately.

The article reports that Abdul al-Rishawi, the Sunni tribal sheikh who aligned himself with U.S. forces in Anbar Province, Iraq, was assassinated in a bomb attack. Al-Rishawi had met with U.S. President George W. Bush in September, 2007 during Bush's visit to Iraq. His death comes as a setback to the U.S. alliance with Sunni tribal leaders in the region, a policy often cited as one of the few U.S. successes in the Iraq War.

The article focuses on videoconference meetings between U.S. President George W. Bush and Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. At least fortnightly, the two leaders talk for at least an hour on topics ranging from the political and military situations in Iraq to political philosophy and religion. The meetings exemplify the personal diplomacy Bush prefers. To date, they have had no discernible effect on Maliki's approach to governing Iraq.

The article reports that Ryan Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Iraq forecasts political chaos and massive violence if U.S. troops withdraw from that country. Political support for the U.S. mission in Iraq continues to erode both in the U.S. Congress and the country. Crocker stated that the benchmarks of performance for Iraq's government set by U.S. President George W. Bush in January, 2007 may not be the best means to measure progess there.

The article reports that a suicide truck bomber detonated a large explosion near a Shiite mosque in downtown Baghdad, Iraq, killing at least 61 persons and injuring 130 more. The attack is seen as a response to the current U.S. campaign against insurgents operating outside the city. Bystanders denounced the U.S. as either unable or unwilling to prevent terrorist attacks in Baghdad.

The article reports that U.S. military forces in Iraq have begun arming Sunni Arab groups that promise to fight groups linked to Al-Qaeda. Some of the Sunni groups have been responsible for attacks on U.S. troops during the Iraq war. U.S. commanders acknowledge the risks involved in arming potential enemies, but think the chance to exploit the rift between native Sunnis and the Al-Qaeda militants, many from other countries, should not be missed.

This article discusses the effect on Iraq if the U.S. forces leave. Varying views from both Iraqis and Americans are presented. Of the five Iraqis who discussed a U.S. pullout, most felt that it would lead to chaos and civil war and sectarian killings. General David H. Petraeus, commander of the American forces in Iraq, believes that it will get much worse if the Americans leave. U.S. Representative John P. Murtha believes that it can't get any worse and that the Iraqis will resolve things themselves.

This article reports that the largest bloc of Sunni Arabs in the Iraqi Parliament, the Iraqi Consensus Front, is threatening to withdraw its ministers from the Shiite-dominated cabinet in frustration over the failure of the government to address Sunni concerns. United States President George W. Bush has invited Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi to Washington in an effort to forestall the action. Two weeks ago six cabinet members left the already weakening the government.

The article discusses the treatment of Iraqi insurgent prisoners by Iraqi security forces. Detainess were turned over to American troops where they proceeded to give detailed information about the people involved in insurgent activities, arms movements and suppliers, and locations used to house kidnap victims.

The article reports on the reactions of French officials, including President François Hollande and Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, on the disclosure of surveillance activities by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) on senior public officers in France in June 2015.

The article focuses on a document from WikiLeaks, a non-profit and journalistic organization, which revealed that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has allegedly spied on French Presidents.

The article offers news briefs related to the entertainment industry of the U.S. in 2014.

The article reports on the voting rights lost by the U.S. at UNESCO after two years of cutting its financial contribution to the organization over the admission of Palestinians as full members.

The article offers the insights of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on the possibility that a deal can be forged between his country and the U.S. and other western countries related to the Iranian nuclear weapons.

The article offers world news briefs including the wiretapping of the French mission in the U.S. by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), the re-election of Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat in Israel, and the attack of the militants on the security forces in Anbar province in Iraq.

The article reports that Afghan President Hamid Karzai has restrained the two strategic lines of the negotiation of the U.S. with the Taliban.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The American diplomat most associated with the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan says that American policy makers need to learn the lessons of the recent past as they weigh military options for the future, including for Syria and Iran: Remember the law of unintended consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta arrived in Afghanistan on Thursday after the deadliest day for civilians this year, caused in part by a NATO airstrike the day before in which Afghan officials say 18 women and children were killed. President Hamid Karzai condemned the strike in the strongest terms and decided the episode was serious enough to cut short his trip to China, where he was participating in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit meeting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The leading American diplomat in Afghanistan, Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, will leave his post this summer for health reasons after serving here less than a year, a State Department official said Tuesday. His departure comes as the American-Afghan relationship enters a new stage, with thousands of American troops beginning to come home and the Afghans taking on increasing responsibility not only for security but also for governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The moment that President Obama chose to visit Afghanistan for the first time in 17 months was a rare chance for him to make the most of a brief window when relations between the two governments are improving after months of crisis, and when the likely fallout of the coming NATO withdrawal is still months away. In the background, however, lurk a host of concerns about how things could go once the bulk of American troops leave and the pipeline of foreign aid slows to a trickle, which is expected to happen by the end of 2014. Both will increase the country's already deep sense of precariousness. And there is concern, too, about whether what once were cornerstone American goals in Afghanistan -- establishing reliable security forces, hobbling the insurgency, curbing endemic corruption, securing enduring rights for women and minorities -- are now unrealistic given the looming deadline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- After months of negotiations, the United States and Afghanistan completed drafts of a strategic partnership agreement on Sunday that pledges American support for Afghanistan for 10 years after the withdrawal of combat troops at the end of 2014. The agreement, whose text was not released, represents an important moment when the United States begins the transition from being the predominant foreign force in Afghanistan to serving a more traditional role of supportive ally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- In a sweeping speech on Tuesday that touched on some of the heroes of Afghanistan's past 150 years, President Hamid Karzai laid out a vision of a modern, independent Afghanistan that could outlast security upheaval and foreign entanglement. And he made an emotional defense of his outreach to the Taliban, urging the insurgents again to lay down their weapons, if only to hasten the withdrawal of American forces. Speaking at an event to celebrate the time of King Amanullah, a reformist ruler in the 1920s, Mr. Karzai appeared to be trying to set himself up as a similar leader who is intent on guiding his country to independence from foreign domination, be it Britain in the past, or the United States today, and as part of a leadership tradition that embraced education and modernization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Accelerating the transition of military responsibility to the Afghan government, the United States agreed Sunday to hand control of special operations missions to Afghan forces, including night raids, relegating American troops to a supporting role and bringing the raids under Afghan judicial authority. The deal clears the way for the two countries to move ahead with a more comprehensive partnership agreement that will establish the shape of American support to Afghanistan after the 2014 troop withdrawal deadline. And it resolves one of the most contentious issues for President Hamid Karzai, who faced intense domestic political pressure because of night raids' deep unpopularity here, even as American commanders had insisted they were the linchpin of the military mission in Afghanistan. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The Americans in Afghanistan are ''demons.'' They claim they burned Korans by mistake, but really those were ''Satanic acts that will never be forgiven by apologies.'' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Seeking to break an impasse on a broader strategic arrangement, the United States agreed Friday to greatly accelerate its transfer of imprisoned insurgents to Afghan government control, but will retain a veto over which ones can be released, American officials said. Gen. John R. Allen, the American military commander, and Abdul Rahim Wardak, the Afghan defense minister, signed the compromise agreement in what diplomats described as a breakthrough in negotiations over a long-term military partnership. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The prospects for a long-term American strategic partnership with Afghanistan appeared to be dimming over the weekend, as negotiations foundered despite a new American willingness to move up the transfer of detention centers to the Afghans to as soon as six months from now, Afghan and American officials said. The proposed timeline would be a substantial concession from an American negotiation position that even just weeks ago put off a transfer into the indefinite future, basing it on the success of training an Afghan guard force capable of running the complex American detention facilities. However, President Hamid Karzai has stated repeatedly that he wants an immediate transfer of all detainees to Afghan control. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Three major investigations were under way on Wednesday into the Koran burning at Bagram Air Base by the American military last week, the event that plunged Afghanistan into days of deadly protests claiming as many as 30 Afghan lives and coinciding with the shooting deaths of four American soldiers. Two of those American deaths, in the Afghan Interior Ministry on Saturday, prompted Gen. John R. Allen, the NATO commander in Afghanistan, to immediately withdraw hundreds of military advisers and trainers from government ministries in Kabul. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A nationwide manhunt was under way on Sunday for the chief suspect in the shooting of two American military officers working in the Interior Ministry, and a grenade thrown by protesters wounded at least six American service members in northern Afghanistan. The continuing animosity over what American officials now say was the inadvertent burning of several Korans last week at the largest air base here underscored the new challenges to the relationship between Afghanistan and the United States, with no clear path toward the restoration of mutual trust. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The anger over the American military's burning of Korans this week claimed at least 10 more lives on Friday as rage continued to explode across the country and began to reverberate in international policy. Ten Afghan civilians protesting the Koran burnings died Friday, most of gunshot wounds, although one protester was trampled to death, bringing the death toll since Tuesday, when the violence started to 24, according to local officials and emergency room doctors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The potential scope of the fallout from the burning of several copies of the Koran by American military personnel this week became chillingly clear on Thursday as a man in an Afghan Army uniform shot and killed two American soldiers, while a crowd nearby protested the desecration of the Muslim holy book. In the third successive day of deadly violence over the Koran burning, seven Afghans were killed in three provinces on Thursday and many more were injured, most in skirmishes with Afghan security forces. The Afghan government, which had responded slowly on the first day of protests, was in high gear on Thursday as officials tried to tamp down emotions ahead of the Friday day of prayer. Western and Afghan authorities feared that there could be emotional demonstrations after the prayer that the Taliban and extremist elements would try to exploit. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- With the Syrian government continuing its deadly crackdown on its citizens, two senior American senators who were on their way to the Middle East spoke out strongly on Sunday in favor of arming the Syrian opposition forces. The senators, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, both Republicans, laid out a series of diplomatic, humanitarian and military aid proposals that would put the United States squarely behind the effort to topple President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. The senators, both of whom are on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that rebel fighters deserved to be armed and that helping them take on the Syrian government would aid Washington's effort to weaken Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WASHINGTON -- If war is what happens when diplomacy fails, what results when diplomats themselves fail to be, well, diplomatic with one another? At the Afghan Embassy in Washington, the answer was a punch in the face. Last week, after an argument over who was going to put together a filing cabinet and where it would be placed, an Afghan Embassy staff member who handles relations with Congress decked a colleague who handles the mission's administrative affairs, current and former diplomats said. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

JALALABAD, Afghanistan -- In the garden of the governor's residence here, a red-coated brass band struck up -- erratically -- the Afghan national anthem, and after some fumbling and delay with the rope, two guards raised the black, red and green of the Afghan flag. On another pole next to it, the guards then slowly lowered the flag of the United States. Carefully, an Afghan Army officer folded the Stars and Stripes before handing it to Richard G. Olson, an ambassador responsible for development and economic affairs at the American Embassy in Kabul. Mr. Olson had flown in by helicopter and was wearing, precariously, a light-blue silk turban he been given in honor of the occasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- President Hamid Karzai has taken steps to disband a little-known, irregular police force financed by the American military with members in at least four northern provinces. Some members of the force are former militiamen and thugs known as much for extorting money from ordinary citizens as for intimidating insurgents and upholding the law. The decision appeared aimed at stopping at least some of the militias that are beyond the control of Mr. Karzai's administration and could one day challenge the government. It also appeared to be an effort to constrain the independence of northern Afghanistan, where strongmen and power brokers, especially the governor of Balkh Province, have often seemed to operate with only nominal deference to the central government in Kabul. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The senior American commander in Afghanistan suggested Tuesday that American forces could remain in the country beyond 2014 despite President Obama's pledge to withdraw them by then. The commander's remarks amounted to the most emphatic signal to date that the United States military intended to secure a presence here, possibly for years. In an interview with The New York Times, the commander, Gen. John R. Allen, avoided talking about troop levels as America begins to wind down its operations in the war on the Taliban insurgency, now 10 years old. But he said negotiations with the government of President Hamid Karzai on a strategic partnership agreement would ''almost certainly'' include ''a discussion with Afghanistan of what a post-2014 force will look like.'' [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Some American-trained, Afghan local police officers have engaged in illegal taxation, carried weapons outside their villages and in some cases committed assault, but over all the NATO military leadership thinks they have been ''effective,'' according to a report issued late Thursday. The report, written by Brig. Gen. James R. Marrs of the United States Air Force, is a response to a highly critical study by Human Rights Watch released in September that detailed allegations of human rights abuses by the relatively new Afghan local police force and by irregular armed groups across the country. Of the 46 accusations of human rights abuses in the Human Rights Watch report, General Marrs found 7 credible and 15 partly credible. He determined that 10 allegations were not credible and that 14 could not be researched sufficiently to permit a conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Despite criticism from neighboring countries, threats from the Taliban and calls for a boycott from some political opponents, President Hamid Karzai has called a loya jirga, the traditional grand council of Afghan elders and leaders, in an attempt to gain popular support for a long-term partnership with the United States, Afghan officials and analysts say. Even before the jirga's opening, set for Wednesday, it is being clouded by doubt and confusion -- much of it sown by Mr. Karzai himself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- President Hamid Karzai has invited retired Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who led NATO troops here in 2009 and 2010, to Afghanistan, and General McChrystal plans to make the visit in the next few weeks, Afghan and American officials said. The general has not been in Afghanistan since he resigned his command in June 2010 after an embarrassing article in Rolling Stone magazine quoted members of his staff saying disparaging things about the Obama administration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ASADABAD, Afghanistan -- American and Afghan troops have killed at least 115 insurgents as part of a tough fight to gain control of a critical corridor and resupply route to a key American base in northeastern Afghanistan, according to Afghan and American military officers. Civilians in the area, as well as American and Afghan soldiers, described an exceptionally intense fight, which was still going on, in which long-range bombers have flown in from as far away as the Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar, the southern Afghan province of Kandahar and Bagram Air Base outside Kabul, the Afghan capital. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- In the deadliest day for American forces in the nearly decade-long war in Afghanistan, insurgents shot down a Chinook transport helicopter on Saturday, killing 30 Americans, including some Navy Seal commandos from the unit that killed Osama bin Laden, as well as 8 Afghans, American and Afghan officials said. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]